


A Slight Problem

by ClothesBeam



Category: Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-03-31 07:28:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3969371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strongarm has a massive crush on her superior officer. Unfortunately their ‘stranded on Earth situation’ means she can’t deal with it according to regulation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Strongarm found it easier to recharge in vehicle mode on Earth, given the amount of dirt and tiny organisms that would force her to do more self-maintenance otherwise. Still, she rocked back and forth excitedly despite the early hour.

She was on Earth. Earth! With Bumblebee!

Strongarm had been working hard all of her relatively short life for a chance like this, and here it finally was. Even if she’d had to defy an order or two to _get_ here…

She tried not to linger on that thought. Bumblebee talked tough, but he wouldn’t be able to do this mission without them. Sideswipe included, she supposed.

The sun peeked over the horizon and she transformed as if greeting it, excited for the day ahead. First she’d get started on her patrol shift early. She bounced on the spot a little, getting the Energon moving to her extremities, before moving off through the forest.

She used the patrol as an opportunity to practice keeping her eye sharp, and acutely focused. However, her attention soon shifted when she spotted Bumblebee down by the river. To his credit, he was quite well hidden.

But Strongarm soon realised that this wasn’t some sort of test. He was actually trying to extricate muck from his door joints. She watched him transform halfway twice in a frustrated attempt to increase his reach, before deciding she should offer some help.

“Lieutenant! You’re up early,” she called at a distance, so as to give him time to react to her presence. She knew now that approaching him when he didn’t know she was there could be kind of dangerous. As it was with most of the wartime survivors.

“Uh, yeah,” he replied unenthusiastically. Strongarm knew he was embarrassed to be seen like this.

“Would you like some assistance, sir? It wouldn’t be proper to have a door accidentally fall open while driving,” she attempted to assuage his embarrassment.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” he conceded.

Strongarm kept her professional face on as she reached into her currently folded up backseat compartment, and pulled out the foam square that had been the only thing big enough for her to use as a sponge. It scratched her finish a little, but was good for this kind of thing when a high pressure hose wasn’t available.

“Ok, I’m just going to push a bit,” she warned before shifting the door gently so she could get at the problematic hinge. She held back a little jump of excitement at the thought of being able to do this for someone so famous.

Best. Mission. Ever.

She stepped around him to rinse the mud off her sponge in the river. “Did you get it all?” Bumblebee asked, shifting his doors experimentally.

She turned away quickly to hide the look on her face. The Lieutenant was so handsome! But according to regulation, members of a squad could not be involved romantically, should it interfere with judgement in a crisis. Given that they would be stuck on Earth for who knew how long, it probably wasn’t a great time pour her heart out.

“Not quite, let me try again,” she replied. She continued avoiding showing her face to him as she moved behind him.

“Are you all right, Cadet Strongarm?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” she replied innocently.

Bumblebee waved her off and turned to face her. “Your behaviour has been odd lately. I know this is the first time you’ve been to Earth, but if there’s anything bothering you, you should let me know. Are you and Sideswipe arguing again?”

“N-no,” she replied, mortified. _He had noticed!_ That meant it was beyond regulation now. Her feelings were already interfering with their duty.

“Then what’s the matter?”

Strongarm froze as she tried to determine the correct course of action. She had already broken regulation, so there weren’t any answers to be had there. And the regulations for breaking regulation were very difficult to apply on Earth, since it was just the five of them here.

Finally she decided that coming clean and letting the most superior officer act on the situation would be best.

“Well I, er, have found myself quite drawn to you, sir.”

Bumblebee’s brows shot up and his optics became a bit wider.

Perhaps she could have worded that a bit better. Good communication was integral to good teamwork, after all.

“ _Oh,_ ” he responded quickly. “All right Cadet, I understand.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, tapping her index fingers together. “I’m not trying to cause trouble, I just, well, you _asked_.”

“No, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting… that.”

“And because we’re on Earth there’s no one to change teams with,” she added nervously. “I wouldn’t have insisted on coming if I had have known I’d feel like this back then!” she insisted.

“I know Strongarm, you’re very responsible,” he replied, pinching what would be the bridge of his nose if he had one.

Strongarm’s spark fluttered at the compliment, but she tried to quell it.

“And you’re very serious about your work. But whether we’re in the middle of this mission or not, it’s not going to _happen_. You’re so… _young_ ,” he finally settled on an adjective.

“I-I realise that, sir.” She did, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

He looked like a large weight had just been taken of his shoulders. “Oh good, ok, that’s a relief. Then we can deal with this constructively and professionally.”

Now he had her attention. She stood up a little straighter, trying to prove that she could and would handle it.

“I know it’s a tall order Strongarm, but you’re going to have to ignore your feelings and just carry on like the professional you are.”

“But sir, I have been trying to do that!”

“Oh, well then.” He didn’t need to say it hadn’t been working. “Keep trying, and monitor the situation. If it really begins causing you trouble, then come and see me again.”

She saluted, realising he was just as lost about the situation as her. “Understood sir!”

* * *

 

Strongarm sat on the banged up caravan in an empty corner of the junkyard, holding her head in her servos. Three weeks ago she had said she understood, but the order had been an impossible one after all. Steeljaw had nearly eviscerated Sideswipe thanks to her failure to prioritise.

And it was all so stupid! Charge would just start collecting in her system at the most ridiculous things. Bumblebee complimented her work. _Bzzt._ He said he trusted her. Yup. _He looked at her for more than a klik_.

She couldn’t even follow a simple order! She really didn’t want to go back to him and try to explain _this_. How mortifying!

 _And what if Sideswipe found out_?

A servo landed on her shoulder and she almost screamed. Strongarm turned to see who it was, and she put a servo over her poor spark when she realised it was the very bot who was taking up far too much of her processing capacity.

Bumblebee gave her a worried look. “Things aren’t going well, are they?”

She glanced down. Her optics flicked over the shape of his chassis and legs as if magnetised and she vented. “No,” she murmured meekly. “Is Sideswipe all right?”

“He bounced right back, as usual. Look Strongarm, I know it’s embarrassing, but don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s not your fault; it was irresponsible for me to act as if it was something you could control just like that.”

Her optics shone, glad that he was concerned about her, and not because of her behaviour.

“Tell me if I’m out of line Cadet, but I think it’s best to treat this frankly. I’m assuming you’ve messed around with a charge inducer before,” he said.

“I, uh, know what one is,” she replied. She hadn’t, and she knew that was unusual. But getting the best exam marks in the class was a rather all-consuming task.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out then. This is for you,” he said, handing her a modest box. “I had Fixit make something similar and then-”

“You told someone!” she accused before he could finish, feeling mortified.

“No, I modified it from something else. No one needs to know about your personal problems. It will never go further than me, I promise,” he replied reassuringly.

“Ok,” she murmured, clutching the box with both servos. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” But some part of her couldn’t stop thinking about how weirdly hot it was that he had made this for her.

“Well then, I guess I’ll leave you to it,” he finished awkwardly, patting her shoulder one last time.

She watched his aft until it disappeared back into the darkness. Something told her this solution would also only be temporary, but she felt it would last a lot longer than his last idea.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to people's enthusiasm for this, I tried to write a bit more about these two. This will probably read more like a series of closely connected one-shots than an actual series.

Strongarm relished in the breeze gliding along her exterior as she raced down the highway. She stayed within the locality’s speed limit of course.

She knew she had been sent on this mission in part to get her away from Bumblebee for a while. But it was still a great chance to prove herself. And maybe if she had the chance to mature a bit along the way…

Strongarm tried to abandon that thought and avoid getting her hopes up. She really did admire Bumblebee a lot, and it was difficult to be told that she was undesirable because she was too young. It wasn’t like she could do anything about that.

She turned her attention to her mirrors, and realised the same car had now been following her for over three Earth hours. Surely a safe and sane human driver would have stopped for a rest by now? She was near her destination anyway, so she pulled off the road sharply and drove up a hill into the jungle area above.

Strongarm vented deeply and transformed as soon as she spotted the yellow paint. “I thought this was _my_ mission,” she said, as he also transformed.

“Oh, it is,” Bumblebee assured, looking almost nervous about having been caught out. “I just thought I should, er, keep track of your progress.”

Strongarm folded her arms and raised a brow. She didn’t say, ‘I thought the purpose of this mission was to get away from you.’ But it seemed she didn’t need to.

“All right, I thought a fieldtrip would be good for you. But I got worried. Some of those Decepticons are worse than others,” he added, frowning at his pedes.

He would know, she supposed. “Well anyway, the signal seems to be coming from over here,” she said, turning to move through the jungle. He followed her lead and she smiled softly.

* * *

 

Bumblebee wrapped the tarp around the unconscious con and tied a rope around it tightly. It wasn’t exactly the safest measure against acid, but he should fit inside Strongarm’s vehicle mode like this, at least until they could contain him properly.

He glanced over his shoulder, watching Strongarm cradle the servo that had been burnt by the acid that covered the con’s plating. She looked upset by the sting of the injury, and how much of her plating it had eaten away. But it seemed Bumblebee was the only one who was really concerned about how badly this _could_ have turned out.

If only they had Ratchet here with them this time. Even Knockout would be better than having zero medical support. It was part of the reason he had argued so fiercely against any of the kids coming with him, even in the middle of the chaotic events that had led to them getting stuck here.

Still, he had tried to take some precautions. He pulled the Cybertronian first aid kit out of his subspace, and took a look inside. Thankfully he had something to soothe the burning, and more than enough tape to make a good wrapping.

“How’s it feeling Strongarm?” he asked, checking the con was still out cold one last time before approaching the cadet.

“It hurts a lot,” she admitted. “That’s going to grow back, right?”

He smiled, somewhat guiltily. This was probably one of the worst injuries she had ever sustained in the line of duty. And their dangerous Decepticon situation wasn’t likely to improve any time soon. “Of course it will. Then we’ll just paint you again and it’ll be good as new.”

He roughly cut the mesh to the size and shape of her servo and wrist area, then applied the soothing cream to it. “All right, just hold this in place. It’s going to sting a little at first, but it’ll make the wound bearable until we can get Fixit to come up with something better.”

She hissed, but stayed silent and dutifully kept the patch in place. Bumblebee picked up the roll of plastic tape, and pulled it out quite a ways as he thought about the best way to apply it. He looked up and noticed Strongarm was glancing up almost shyly.

“What? I have first aid training, don’t worry.”

She cleared her vocaliser and looked away determinedly. “Yes sir, I would hope so.”

Bumblebee vented, and continued pulling out more tape as he wrapped it around the patch. “Too young, Strongarm.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m trying to get stronger!” she replied indignantly. “And more mature.”

“Well don’t try too hard, or you’ll miss out on the fun part of being young. Like I did,” he replied, cutting the tape and carefully wrapping the last of the strip around the tips of her fingers.

She groaned and pushed her good servo to her optics. “You should have let me go on this mission alone, or sent Grimlock to help instead,” she muttered. “I think I’m getting worse, not better.”

“Well if it’s bothering you that much, maybe you should ask Sideswipe-” He smirked when she cut him off with a childish yell of disgust.

“No way! If he can torment me so much about normal things, imagine what he’d be like with this!” She glanced at the tarp as it wriggled.

Bumblebee artfully kicked the con in what he guessed was the back of his head, knocking him out again. “I don’t know, maybe you’re not giving him enough credit,” he replied. “He’s not exactly malicious.”

“Ugh, but he’s such a child about everything, how can I even…” she trailed off and glanced up at him.

Bumblebee raised a brow and gave half a smile. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

She huffed and stood quickly. “Fine, we should get this one back before he wakes up again,” she said hastily.

“All right, let’s-”

“Don’t even,” she replied, pointing at him sharply before transforming.

“Load up and roll out?” he continued innocently, placing the wrapped bundle across her folded down back seat and rear storage compartment.

“Oh, but I’m the childish one?” she asked with half a laugh. She snapped her door shut and took off in a cloud of dust.

Bumblebee waved the dust out of his face before he ran and leaped over her, landing halfway down the slope. He jumped again and transformed in mid-air before turning sharply onto the paved road. “Last one back to base is a rotten egg!”

“What’s a rotten…? Hey! I’ll have to arrest _you_ for reckless driving at this rate!”

Sometimes Bumblebee forgot he was a police officer, and not a scout anymore. But the reminder didn’t stop him from flooring it this time.

“You’ll have to catch me first!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite confronting in terms of violence and med bay happenings. It's the reason this story is rated M. 
> 
> This will be the last chapter until canon comes out with something new.

“The roof! Hold the roof, no matter what!”

Strongarm flinched as Bumblebee was knocked aside by the digger con. Ped, or whatever. She growled with frustration before turning to follow the order. If the ground broke, the building would come tumbling down. Hundreds of people could die.

Her struts groaned as she took on the weight. She didn’t want to know how many tonnes she was holding on her shoulders right now. She glanced up just in time to see Bumblebee get smacked across the room again.

Even she had felt that one. “Stop it!” she yelled, shifting slightly in an attempt to better brace the ceiling. Her optics widened as she watched the con approach Bumblebee, clawed hands moving into their digging position. She couldn’t just watch this, but, her orders!

The con struck, but hit only ground as Bumblebee rolled aside. He turned with grit denta and pointed his fist at the con. The plating on his arm shifted slightly, but he didn’t have an alt mode loaded for it to change into.

His optics widened as he realised his mistake too late, and he shuffled back while he scrambled for the pistol at his hip. However, this error in judgement left Ped enough time to bring another strike down. Bumblebee cried out as he was kicked over and clawed in the back.

Strongarm wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but the con yelled something about his Energon before scurrying away. She shook under the strain, wondering what she was supposed to do now. She couldn’t stay here forever, but by the time she wedged a nearby boulder in the gap, the entire building would have collapsed. And Bumblebee was lying there, bleeding out while she watched.

The yellow bot slowly got to his pedes. Shifting was making his wounds leak Energon, but he didn’t seem to notice. He stared straight ahead, but his optics didn’t seem to be relaying anything to his processor. Strongarm shrank away slightly at the intense grimace etched on his face.

She heard a worrying screech as he picked up the boulder that was large enough to brace the ceiling properly. “Sir, be careful!”

He didn’t look as though he had heard her. Bumblebee wedged the rock in place with stiff and strained movements before turning to her. “Are you all right?”

Strongarm gingerly let the weight go. She sagged with relief when it stayed above their heads just fine. “Yes sir, now let’s get your injuries sorted out.”

Bumblebee nodded at the ‘yes’, then his knees gave and his optics offlined. He fell flat on his face, and Strongarm gasped when she saw just how deep those gouges were. She put him on her back before transforming.

Bumblebee wasn’t as heavy as Grimlock, but this was certainly more unwieldy. She went as fast as she could down the tunnels, and hope was the only thing really keeping him from sliding off.

Fixit had better be able to fix this!

* * *

 

Strongarm was up to her elbows in bright blue Energon, but she didn’t stop to think about that while she held Bumblebee’s wounds apart long enough for Fixit to reach in and replace the severed fuel lines. The monitoring equipment beeped steadily in the background, eventually fading to the back of her consciousness.

The few Energon cubes they had left were being clumsily prepared for immediate transfusion by Grimlock’s unwieldy claws. But it didn’t matter how slow he was; they had to get the systems it would flow through back to normal first.

Her venting hitched before she became consciously aware that Bumblebee’s fuel pump was beating arrhythmically. “F-Fixit,” she stuttered, servos freezing in place.

“I’m won – one – DONE,” he stumbled, whacking himself to get his wires to line up. “Turn him over.”

Strongarm did so swiftly, and carefully. Grimlock hovered in the background nervously, unable to help any further. Fixit inserted the IV tube into Bumblebee's arm, but the incessant beeping continued. It became more rapid and sporadic, and the Energon stopped moving.

“C-cardiac fibrillation? Open his spark chamber!” Fixit commanded, datascreen hovering in front of his face.

If he was already down to consulting manuals, then this couldn’t be good. She followed the order, not knowing what else she could do. Why couldn’t they have a proper medic on the team?

His spark was faint, but still moving slightly. The fuel pump under it sputtered, contracting at random. “All right Strongarm, brace your hands over his pump. Push down in time to my counting. You steady – heady – ready?”

“Yes to all three,” she murmured absently, already in position. She tutted when the sun interfered with her optics. She grimaced wryly, only being reminded again that this was all too real. No movie-like bad weather for them.

“One, two, more, pressure, one, two,” he began, staying in time. Strongarm did what he said, even though she just felt she was hurting him.

_He won’t feel pain again unless you get this right._

Fixit batted her hands aside. “Get clear!” She did so, and watched him deliver a shock directly to Bumblebee’s spark. “Nothing, go again! One, two, one, two…”

Strongarm began cursing to herself on the fourth round of this cycle. Her hands kept colliding with each other while she pumped, and her arms were aching. She couldn’t hear the monitoring machine anymore, and simply listened as hard as she could to every word from Fixit’s mouth.

He batted her hands away again and vented. “That’s enough Strongarm.”

“No! We have to keep trying!” she protested, moving to take up her position again.

“No Strongarm! I meant he’s back to colonel – formal – normal!” He whacked himself before continuing. “Just listen for a klik!”

The beeps were indeed coming regularly, and at an acceptable pace. She leaned back and let out a vent of relief before moving forward to close off Bumblebee’s spark chamber. However, the panels shifted on their own as her servo approached.

Strongarm turned her head and met the Lieutenant’s optics. They were clouded with pain, but he determinedly gazed around in confusion. She sobbed loudly, bringing her servos up to cover her face. “Thank Primus,” she whispered.

“You’re conscious already? How?” Fixit asked, inspecting the circuitry that had been fried during the shock deliveries.

“I might not have kept my inbuilt weapons alt-mode, but I do still have the immediate action protocols." Strongarm had heard of those. Something invented by Doctor Ratchet to get Autobots back on the field of battle as soon as they were at anything approaching normal condition. They were banned during peacetime, of course.

Fixit nodded solemnly before launching into an explanation of what had just happened.

"That was a close call,” the lieutenant commented as though it had happened to someone else. “Thank you Fixit, Grimlock.” A servo rested on her arm, tugging hers away from her faceplate. “And thank _you_ for holding it together, Strongarm.” He inspected her servo, the one that had been burnt half away by acid not so long ago.

He shifted his joints a little, testing his range of movement. “Nice work as always, Fixit. They should make you a surgeon when we get back.”

“Oh no, I’m squeamish really,” he replied bashfully while he ferried the equipment they had used back to his workspace for cleaning.

“But we still have a problem on our hands,” the lieutenant said, back to business and already trying to sit up. He soon gave up and simply leaned on his elbow.

“You’re all right!” a small voice cheered, and Russel padded over to them.

“Careful Rusty! Liquid Energon!” Denny reminded, holding him back. “Also, our fake Energon is ready to go,” he added, pointing to the impressive-looking pile of cubes.

Bumblebee nodded and rolled onto his front. He paused and looked up at Strongarm. “You should get cleaned up, Cadet.” She nodded and he activated his comm. “Jazz, Sideswipe, you nearly back?”

“You betcha,” Jazz replied. The roaring of engines in the background was a promising sign.

Strongarm turned away, heading for the carwash she had rigged up recently. She didn’t care about looking like a murderer, but the smell was getting to her.

“Right, this is the plan…” the lieutenant continued. It was difficult to tell he had just almost _died._

* * *

 

Bumblebee carefully hauled himself up the sign Strongarm was atop of, trying to avoid exacerbating his wounds. He had crooked welding and bracing all over his back, and he could feel it wouldn’t take much to make it all pop off.

When he was near the top, a blue and white arm reached down and grabbed the top of his chestplate, helping to lift him up the final stretch and reduce the strain in his shoulders. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Lieutenant?”

He noticed her hand linger before she turned away. “Probably not,” he conceded. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m proud of your performance today, Strongarm.”

Strongarm nodded, adopting a huddled posture. “I think I see what you mean. About me being so young, and our life experience being too different. You just moved like an automaton back there, even though you were bleeding out.”

Bumblebee shifted his weight uncomfortably. “It’s not the first time I’ve had to fight through an injury like that. Probably won’t be the last.” But he hadn’t been that close to offlining since Megatron had ripped his voice box out. And it wasn’t even like Ped was an impressive opponent.

He was losing his touch.

Bumblebee tried to lighten the mood a little. “Did I ever tell you about the time my T-cog was stolen?”

She blinked at him disbelievingly. “No way!”

“Yeah way, by humans, too!” He shrugged and had to cover the resultant wince. “But I guess those guys are long gone, now. Humans don’t last that long.” And now he was thinking about Raf and the others again. Even if he could contact him, he was afraid to find out the worst. That he’d left it too late…

“And yet you still risked your hide for them,” she said with a soft smile, referring to the building.

“Yeah, how could I not? The Decepticons are still Cybertronians. It’s kind of our responsibility, you know?” He turned to her properly. “But anyway, I know being shoved into a med bay with no experience is confronting. Fixit and Grimlock told me about what happened in more detail, and I’m glad you were able to keep your wits about you.”

“Just don’t recommend me to anyone for my surgical skills,” she muttered.

“All right, I’ll just be lobbying for your promotion to sergeant, then,” he replied offhandedly.

She turned to him after a moment’s pause, joy written over her faceplate. “Really?”

He nodded, smiling at her jubilant expression. “Just… don’t let it go to your head. You and Sideswipe still really need to work on your teamwork issues.”

“Well… I’ll try, sir,” she agreed reluctantly.

"Really Strongarm, I'm glad I can depend on you," he admitted softly.

She hunched her shoulders and turned away, looking embarrassed. He felt he should leave it there for now.

“Right, now how am I going to get down without straining my shoulders?” he muttered in an attempt to change the subject again.

An arm wrapped around his waist and Strongarm dragged him along as she dropped through the air. She gripped the pole holding up the giant sign to slow their descent. She landed heavily, then placed Bumblebee on the ground.

“Good answer,” he said around his mirth.

She rolled her optics. “You’re _welcome_ ,” she replied as she turned away sharply.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Windblade episode annoyed me a lot, but I couldn’t not write about it in this fic. I tried to make Strongarm's reactions less cringe-inducing while still letting her deal with jealousy and general contempt.

Strongarm wasn’t sure what to make of Windblade, but she knew something about her rubbed her the wrong way. Something to do with her ego, she was sure. Then she realised: Windblade was just a Primus-chosen Sideswipe!

Well, except for the part where she had somehow managed to hit on the entire team within the space of a few kliks. No way was Sideswipe smooth enough for that.

Strongarm vented and refocused on scrolling through Wikipedia on her floating data screen, wondering which animal she should learn about next. When she kept going back to birds of prey she gave up and made the screen disappear with a grunt of frustration.

She glanced over to see Sideswipe and Bumblebee showing Windblade around and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in her spark. She wasn’t just angry at the disdainful attitude and inflated ego that Windblade touted. She was also unbearably jealous of the type of attention she was getting!

Strongarm could understand Sideswipe being a moron, but the femme even had Bumblebee and Fixit flustered. Did Minicons even…? No, she decided, she didn’t really want to know.

“Strongarm!” Grimlock called. She turned to see he was being closely followed by Drift and his disciples. Since the scrapyard’s population had increased, she had found it more difficult than ever to find time to, well, ‘amuse’ herself.

“What?” she asked a little too standoffishly. Not that Grimlock seemed to notice.

“Is it true that the talons of a kitten can slice through titanium alloys?” he demanded.

She rolled her optics and tried to share an exasperated look with Drift, but he looked equally as concerned. Was she the only one who had figured out how to access the internet on this planet?

“No, kittens aren’t dangerous,” she repeated flatly. “At least not to a great dinobot like yourself.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” he said with a vent, wiping his brow. It seemed he _had_ figured out and even enjoyed the TV and human media.

“Who keeps telling you all this stuff?”

Grimlock glanced at Sideswipe before quickly looking away again. “Oh, no one, don’t you worry. I just want to be prepared for all possibilities involving kittens and other small mammals.”

Strongarm blinked slowly. “Grimlock, compared to you, _humans_ are small mammals.”

He looked briefly horrified, but Bumblebee coming up behind their group stopped the ridiculous conversation for a while. “All right, we’ve pinpointed a suppressed signal. Get ready to roll in fifteen,” he announced to their little group.

Drift and his Minicons moved off immediately. Grimlock hesitated a klik but seemed to decide to save his other questions for later.

“Are you all right Strongarm? You seem kind of miffed,” Bumblebee said once he had lumbered off.

“Oh no, I’m fine,” she replied with a forced laugh.

“You know, jealousy is unseemly.”

“So is having your head shoved so far up your exhaust that-”

“Strongarm!” he scolded, then proceeded to laugh anyway. “Come on, I’ve seen you and Sideswipe starting to get along better. Surely you can handle this?”

“We’ll see,” she muttered, before moving off to get ready for the mission.

* * *

 

Strongarm watched Windblade go with the rest of them, surprised that she was actually sad to see her leave so soon. They had all managed to work well together in the end.

“Good job today,” Sideswipe complimented before walking away. Strongarm smirked and waited for him to turn around with the punchline.

It never came.

She gave a double take when he just kept on walking off. “Did you just compliment me?” she called after him, both surprised and confused.

Strongarm glanced back when she heard Bumblebee chuckle to himself. He stepped closer, but before he could say anything, Grimlock interrupted them.

“Strongarm! Is it true kittens hunt in packs?”

She vented dejectedly. “No! No they do not! Can’t you just go look them up on Wikipedia?”

“Uh, well, my linguistic circuits are faulty when it comes to reading. And besides, there are cats everywhere on the internet! Terrifying!”

Despite the second lot of ridiculousness, she felt a bit guilty for snapping at him. She hadn’t known that. “All right, fine, how about we talk to Denny and Russel about getting a kitten for you to play with for a day? Then you’ll see that you’re just inflating this fear out of proportion.”

He looked nervous but nodded his head in the end. “Ok, if you think they can handle it.” He lumbered off, finally giving Bumblebee an opportunity to speak.

He smiled at her softly. “Well, looks like you lot don’t need me anymore,” he joked. “Nice work with leading the strike, and dealing with the team’s, er, problems just now. It’s all been handled in a very appropriate manner.”

She was pleased by the compliments, but she couldn’t help but retort. “There’s one thing I can’t seem to handle very appropriately.” Strongarm turned her back to him and folded her arms.

His servo tugged on her shoulder in response. “Well, we can’t all be perfect like Windblade.”

She turned back quickly to glare at him. Bumblebee removed his hand and winked before walking away.

Strongarm stood there for a while, watching his retreating aft. Six months ago she would have obsessed over such a series of actions for weeks. But now the hero worship was fading.

Despite that, she still liked who she saw.


	5. Chapter 5

Bumblebee didn’t know what to do. Admittedly this was pretty normal for him lately, but right now he truly had no clue. His team was suffering. Everything was a complete mess. Even Optimus was hurt badly.

And Optimus _wasn’t leading_.

“Bumblebee,” he murmured as he slowly sat up, water sloughing off his frame. “I am not the one who needs you right now.” As if to prove is point, a cry of pain came from the island. Sideswipe maybe?

“But you’re the most injured on the field. If you have to fall back, then we all do,” he replied, processor racing along familiar protocols from the last time he’d been on Earth. He supported the recently changed mech with a servo while the other moved to look at the damage.

“I think you may have forgotten when we are. These are your team members, and they answer to _you_.” He met his gaze steadily despite the gash Megatronus had left in his chassis. “You are capable, and you don’t need me. You already know what needs to be done.”

All at once he realised his old commander was right. The fighters on the island needed him by their side. There wasn’t time to mess around. Earth, the Universe, everything was at stake.

A ‘yes sir’ almost exited his vocaliser, but he paused and decided to try a different approach. “Whatever you say, Optimus.”

He shook his head gently. “Not quite what I had envisioned, but a definite improvement.”

Bumblebee smiled slightly before releasing the mech and running back toward the fray. His servo closed around the Decepticon Hunter. “Sideswipe, Strongarm, to me!”

* * *

 

The cadet lay on her back in her usual corner of the base. The stars had been beautiful during the night, but now they were beginning to fade into the gradually lightening sky.

Strongarm was exhausted, but her processor was still running on overdrive. It had to be about 4am, but she hadn’t been at all interested in laying down for a proper recharge. She supposed a fight with Megatronus did that to most bots.

She glanced around at the sound of approaching footsteps, only to see Bee flop down next to her.

“How are you, Cadet?”

“Fine, but probably still being affected by the engagement of battle and survival protocols earlier.”

He nodded and looked up at the navy sky as well. “You’re not the only one.”

“Well, at least Optimus is back,” Strongarm said, leaning back and looking up at the beginnings of the sunrise. “You seem happy.”

He looked down at his knees now, curling in on himself slightly. “My tolerance for your feelings might surprise some, but I know what it’s like to have an interest in someone beyond your level of experience.”

Strongarm’s optics widened as she processed what he was really saying. “He called you his equal today, well, yesterday…” she corrected automatically.

“Maybe it’s the nostalgia speaking, but he doesn’t seem like quite the same mech anymore,” he replied with a wry smile. “I mean, we all thought he was offline for good, but it seems like the legacy of the Primes will continue after all.”

“Everything has changed so quickly,” Strongarm agreed. “But it _has_ been a long time since you last saw each other, I can’t even imagine. It could just take some time…”

“Or maybe,” he spoke over her quiet trailing sentence, “at some point I lost interest in all of that.”

She turned her gaze to him with raised brows. “Then, what are you interested in now?”

A soft smile crossed his faceplate as he closed off his optics. “I’m not sure.”

Strongarm groaned internally. At this point her ‘facing frustration would cause her to burn out a circuit. She flopped back on her back somewhat moodily, and watched the first rays of colour stretch across the sky. She couldn’t help the right corner of her mouth contracting.

“ _Do_ let me know when you figure it out.”


End file.
